The U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will brief the media and the public in New York City on the draft recommendations from its building and fire safety investigation of the collapses of the World Trade Center (WTC) towers following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The recommendations seek improvements in the way people design, construct, maintain and use buildings to increase both structural integrity and building, occupant and emergency responder safety. They will be released, along with the complete WTC towers investigation report, for a six-week public comment period.

The towers report consists of 43 individual documents (15 of which were released in April) and some 10,000 pages. A separate draft report on the collapse of WTC 7 (a 47-story building that fell after the WTC towers) will be released for public comment at a later date.

This advisory is being issued now to give media organizations and the public adequate time to mark their calendars and make travel arrangements. A second advisory will be issued closer to the event date, providing instructions on how to view a Web cast or downlink a satellite broadcast of the press briefing. The public briefing will not be broadcast.

A question-and-answer period will immediately follow both briefings. A limited availability for press interviews with WTC Lead Investigator Shyam Sunder is planned after the media Q&As are completed in the morning.

Where:

The Marriott New York Financial Center HotelGrand Ballroom, Third Floor85 West St.New York, N.Y.

Sign-In:

Media planning to attend the briefing should register by Monday, June 20, 2005, at 5 p.m. EDT, by calling (301) 975-2762 or by sending an e-mail to media@nist.gov

For security reasons, all media-including production crew members-must have proper credentials (a news media badge with photo or a photo ID with a business card) to enter the briefing room.

More Info:

A comprehensive Web site on the NIST WTC investigation may be accessed at http://wtc.nist.gov.